Educate Me on Good Carpet

[LeeAnn]

I need a new carpet for the family room. It is the most used room in the house. It has enterance from the foyer (outside). Most visible room upon entering. High Traffic area.

I have three small children. They have a playroom but the spend allot time here.

It's a big room so cost is a factor but can't skim on quality because room will need it. Can't replace the carpet in a few years. Must last.

Want carpet. Not hard wood floor. Kids are on the floor. Want warmth.

Not a fave of Berber. Someone suggested industrial strenghth carpet. Is that like in offices?

What types of carpet should I get?

Thanks for any info.

 

[tommya60]

I have to say that I would do wood or tile with large area rugs--my area rugs are carpet remenants with bound edges (DIY bound them in pleather). We put padding under them, it's great. The 'pathway" is wood, easy to clean.

If you want wall to wall carpet, then look for Karastan. It's pricey, but it lasts and lasts and cleans up easily. The carpet in our hall is Karastan, 11+ years old, looks good and cleans easily with a home carpet cleaner. By the way, buy good padding, too. It will help the carpet last longer, and vacum often.

 

[ceecee]

When we moved into our first house it was two years old and had the cheap contracter carpet no upgrades...that stuff would not die! We kept saying once the toddler stage is over, once the dog is potty trained and the second dog after that. I spilled a gallon of paint on it and DD dumped red nailpolish....it all came right up! It still looked good 18 years later when we finally replaced it with "top of the line" which did not hold up nearly as well. We have Berber in our new home, which will need replacing in a year due to our labs toenails.

 

[ohlas]

dont go cheap on the padding. padding can even make the cheapest carpets feel better.......

 

[busyshrew]

We have had both. The good stuff and the cheap stuff. (And we had good underpadding for both). The cheap stuff we have right now is absolute murder on the soles of my feet. The skin on my feet is always dry and flaking! The good quality carpet felt much more silky, smoother and any spills cleaned up very easily. We rarely had to use a Bissell with the good carpet and we are ALWAYS pulling it out now.

Also I would not rule out berber too quickly. Go to a good flooring store and look at all the different samples. Berbers are an excellent hard-wearing easy-cleaning carpet, and they come in many new patterns that are very attractive.

Industrial carpet will make your living room look like a home office IMHO.

Just some thoughts.

 

[virginiamama]

We have frieze (I think that's how it is spelled). It is a curly short shag, so it is very comfy. I read books on choosing low maintenance building materials, and this was one of the suggestions. According to one of those books, it "wears like a Mac truck." It actually looks better when it hasn't been vacuumed lately. Our dog does not seem to have any trouble with it. We went with a tan color - basically the color beige carpet would be once it got dirty. It hides everything. The ONLY complaint I have is that Legos and other tiny items get lost in it.

 

[Pembo]

We just bought new carpet for our dining room and family room. We went with Mohawk Smartstrand brand. It was field tested in a rhino cage and cleaned up fine. They have many different styles and colors. We went to a local carpet store (that I trust) and I told the guy I needed carpet that would wear well with 3 kids and 2 dogs. Find a reputable carpet dealer and ask a lot of questions...then price around.

 

[TnTWalter]

We have engineered wood from Mannington in our Great Room LOVE IT.

OUr entire upstairs [besides baths] is Mohawk Dupont carpet. FANTASTIC!!!

There's a board on gardenweb dedicated just to flooring and I learned about it there. Clean up is a breeze and it's soft and wonderful.

Good luck.

Trish

 

[mamaLori05]

The pad is the most important part!! Upgrade to the second best pad and you will be happy. (the best is a memory foam pad, super expensive. We put it on the stairs, but it would be over kill on the rest of the house). We have Freize carpet, and love it. I do vaccum almost daily, and I have 2 kiddo's under 4, one cat, and DH and I. We also got higher end carpet with more carpet fibers per inch. My inlaws bought some cheap stuff about a year ago, and it already looks horrible. my advice, don't go with the cheap stuff. I have no idea what the brand name is. I did buy it at a carpet store. I love my carpet and wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[ceecee]

We did get the highest grade of padding too, it was fireproof and waterproof and also the company gave us free warranty for as long as we owned the house.

 

[Shelby5514]

I second the frieze carpet. We put it in our basement theater room & office (with a top of the line pad) and it was fantastic. Ours was made from recycled plastics and it cleans up fantastically!!!! We had 2 cats that were prone to hairballs and nothing stains a carpet like cat puke, but not the frieze. If we still lived there we were going to put it throughout the rest of the house. WE LOVED IT!!!

 

[tinlizzy]

My carpet is a 22 year old berber Mohawk Stainmaster by Dupont. The pad is Rebond 3000 and was recommended by our neighbor who was a carpet installer because it can withstand 3000lbs/sq in and would never leave a dent after the furniture was moved (and it hasn't!).

It still looks brand new and always comes clean! I have occasionally had a loop come up and I just twist it back into place and superglue it down .

I'm really cheap so I picked the carpet I wanted and then ordered it from a carpet manufacturer in Dalton, GA and had it shipped here via Roadway Express. I saved $12 a sq yd on the carpet - don't remember what the pad cost. Shipping was $27 and the carpet installer had to pick it up from the terminal .

 

[deva]

Most industrial carpet will be very short, very tight loops (think library or dr.'s office). It will wear very well, but as others have posted, I don't think it will look right (and I don't think very comfy to sit on). If you want "regular" carpet, something with a shorter yet very dense pile and a lot of twist to the fibers will look nice and wear well. With the twist you won't get as many footprints, vacuum marks etc as the pile is twisted in different directions.

I had a HORRIBLE experience with Home Depot install, but the salesman there was actually very helpful. Also, the carpets are "rated" on the back. Now they don't all use the same rating system, but within a certain brand, you can look for the highest wear rating. You can also check density by bending the sample back (when carpet side is facing you). The more backing you see, the less dense the carpet.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I second the frieze carpet.

how do you pronounce this word "frieze" ?

 

[irisesareblue]

I agree with the Previous poster who said not to rule out berber - we actually have high end berber throughout our living/dining room area, our main stairway and our loft/office area. We were told by a good friend of my hubbys to put really good underlay in as well (he's our local builder) - and all I could think of while we were discussing underlay was undelay undelay eeba eeba!)

We have had our carpet for 7 years (since we bought our house) and it has stood up very well. The only issue we have had is that every once in a while I see a strand of fibre sticking up along a seam (we have lots of seams becaue our living/dining area is 900 square feet and no carpet is wide enough). I just clip the strand with my kitchen scissors and it has never given me problems. (I think if I left the strand and not clipped it, it might get caught in the vacuum beater brush and create a run in the carpet)

 

[deva]

how do you pronounce this word "frieze" ?

Free ZAY (emphasis on the second syllable)

 

[deva]

:The only issue we have had is that every once in a while I see a strand of fibre sticking up along a seam (we have lots of seams becaue our living/dining area is 900 square feet and no carpet is wide enough). I just clip the strand with my kitchen scissors and it has never given me problems. (I think if I left the strand and not clipped it, it might get caught in the vacuum beater brush and create a run in the carpet)

I've heard to NEVER clip/trim berber because supposedly it is one continuous "thread". Once you clip it will continue to unravel and run.